Clara landed softly, the snow softly crunching under her boots. Her hand hit a button on her wrist and suit turned all white. Her skin paled as she walked silently, looking around. She almost blended into the snow, the air growing even colder. She look around a moment before speaking.
"All clear. They won't know what hit 'em." She smirks and within moments she hears the Quinn Jet land. Soon enough the Jeep is heard and the Hydra base wakes up. Clara shuts her eyes for a moment, enjoying the silence until her teammates break it. In the distance, she can hear Cap's motorcycle and the Hulk's roars. Clara opens her eyes just as Hydra soldiers start shooting at her.
"Momma's home." She says and flicks her hands upward, shooting a block of ice up from under them. The soldiers shout as they fly into the sky. Clara leaves the injured soldiers and flies towards the team. She joins them just as they jump over a barricade. Tony flies off to grab Loki's scepter. Clara takes on two different soldiers wearing some type of enhanced suits as she hears a bang on the com links.
"Shit!" Tony grumbles and Clara tried not to laugh as she takes down the two Hydra soldiers. He must've ran into the force field.
"Language!" Steve sternly responds and Clara rolls her eyes. She can't help the response as it bubbles out of her mouth.
"Oh come on, Steve. I've heard you say way worse." Clara teases and Tony makes puking noises. Steve chooses to ignore her as he drives away in his motorcycle.
"JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?" Steve asks and the A.I. responds to all of them.
"The central building is protected by some sort of energy shield. Strucker's technology is way beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken." He responds. Clara clenches her jaw as she continues fighting. A group of soldiers move towards her and without her even looking, she freezes their blood instantly. Thor stops nearby her and takes out a few agents before they could star shooting at her.
"Loki's scepter must be here. He couldn't amount this defense without it." Thor tells the team and Clara nods.
"I remember hearing whispering about it. He has it." Clara responds as she ducks Thor's hammer. He smiles at her, shrugging slightly as he swings his hammer.
"My apologies, Lady Clara!" He says before flying off. Clara snorts and continues to fight off the soldiers around her. They're relentless.
"I don't know if you guys know, but HYDRA really sucks." Clara says as she throws an ice knife at one of the agents, taking the rest in hand to hand combat. One of the soldiers laughs almost comically evilly.
"Stryker knows you're here Ice and he and Hydra can't wait to have you back." He says and Clara glares at him. With the mention of the name she sees red.
"Oh you're going to wish you hadn't said that." Clara purrs and takes the blood of the man she had killed with the ice knife before freezing it and spending it in spikes at the soldiers around her, killing them instantly. She walks over the bodies and she gets a little calmer.
"The long Last is lasting a little long, boys." Natasha says, a little out of breath. A part of Clara yearns to take all the Hydra soldiers down, but she knows that's the Ice part of her. So instead she just continues to fight, getting used to the sounds of explosions surrounding her.
"Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise." Clint jokes. Another explosion. Clara sighs and deflects hit after hit, taking down one soldier after another.
"Wait a sec, no one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said "Language" and that then my oh so gross sister made it clear that he's said way worse?" Tony asks and Clara laughs. The younger Stark can hear Steve's bike getting closer.
"I know." Steve sighs as he throws his bike at the men who were nearing Clara, "It just slipped out."
"Thank you." She says, looking at him. Steve stops and nods, a small smile on his face. He's about to say something, but Clara interrupts him by throwing two daggers at men who were coming up behind him. He looks at the fallen men and back at her. She smiles and walks past him.
"You gotta keep up, old man." She says before flying off. Clara lands by Natasha, helping her take down some of the men surrounding her. Natasha nods in thanks as soon as the men are down. Clara nods back before flying off. She sees a group of soldiers attempting to sneak up on her teammates. The Stark lands quietly and makes her way towards them. Quietly and quickly, she takes them out one by one. Her training from HYDRA and SHIELD blending ever so slightly. In the distance she spots Clint, probably in the need up the help. She flies over to him just as a blue blur knocks him over. A man stops and walks by in front of him.
"You didn't see that coming?" He says in an accent before turning into a blur again. Both Clint and Clara are memorized by the sight of him before Clint gets shot.
"Oh shit, Clint are you okay?" Clara says as she runs over to him and kneels by his side. Natasha is there in seconds.
"We have an enhanced in the field." Steve reports as Natasha and Clara look as the wound.
"Clint's hit! Clara, you go help Steve with the enhanced." Natasha tells her. Clara nods and flies off to find Steve, "Someone want to deal with that bunker?" Clara can hear the Hulk roar before hearing noise of destruction. "Thank you."
"Stark, we really need to get that scepter." Steve says as he throws his shield and himself at soldiers. Clara rolls her eyes and helps him take down the others.
"I'm closing in." Tony responds.
"No sign of the enhanced over here, but keep an eye out. And I hope you are, Tones." Clara responds as she helps Steve up from off the ground, only to grab his shield. Steve watches as he throws it three incoming soldiers, watching as she gets all three. The shield comes back to her and she hands it off to Steve.
"Drawbridge is down, people. I told you I was close, Clara." Tony says and Clara smiles.
"You also told me that you didn't kill my goldfish, Tony." She responds and Steve smiles as they make their way to the compound.
"You left it in my care. It was a dumb idea." Tony retorts just as Thor lands next to Steve and Clara.
"The enhanced?" Thor asks and Steve looks around.
"He's a blur. Nothing like any of the players we've been up against." Steve tells him and looks back at Clara. She shakes her head.
"I never heard of anyone like him. He's...fast." Clara says and Thor nods. Hydra soldiers are getting closer.
"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We are going to need E-VAC." Natasha tells them over the comm.
"I can get Barton back to the jet. You, Clara, and Stark secure the scepter." Thor tells us and Steve and I both nod.
"Copy that." Hydra soldiers start to almost line up in front of them. Clara smiles as she steps back. Steve kneels and puts his shield up for Thor.
"It's like they're lining up." Steve says and Thor chuckles.
"Makes it easier." The God responds and hits his hammer in the shield, making the soldiers fall. Clara grins and pats Thor on the back.
"Good job, beefcake." She says and Thor grins.
"Thank you, Lady Clara. Now find the scepter." Thor says stepping back and swings his hammer before flying into the air.
"And for gosh sake watch your language!" Tony teases and Clara laughs. Steve sighs again, looking like he regrets everything in his entire life.
"That's not going away anytime soon." He says and Clara shakes her head.
"Do you need a lift?" She asks, almost regretting the words as they leave her mouth. Steve looks at her and nods. He looks like he wants to say something again, but she doesn't let him. Instead she grabs him and lifts him up into the air. They land near a tunnel and Clara lets him go.
"We are on lockdown out here." Natasha reports as Steve takes off his helmet. He presses the comm link in his ear.
"Then get to Banner, it's time for a lullaby." Steve tells her as Clara falls into step right beside Steve. There's a slight uneasy silence around the two of them. Clara knows that Steve was very uneasy about her going back into the field. The whole team was. A soldier steps out in front of the two of them, raising his gun, but Clara kicks him unconscious before he can do anything. The two Avengers walk out of the hallway to see Strucker come up some stairs.
"Baron Strucker. Hydra's number one thug." Steve says as they walk closer to him. Frost covers the stairway that Strucker is standing on.
"Technically I'm a thug for SHIELD." He says with a smile, his eyes landing on Clara.
"Then technically you're out of business, aren't you?" Clara retorts, moving closer. The air gets colder. Steve glances at Clara and sees her eyes are glowing.
"And you're out of job too, Ice. Number two guard dog of HYDRA. Too bad Pierce didn't want to let me play with you. We could've had fun." Strucker smirks and Clara practically growls, stepping forward. Steve steps in front of her.
"Where's Loki's scepter?" He asks. Clara isn't listening to Strucker's response as she senses someone behind her. Clara turns around and sees another enhanced. Before she can do anything, the woman sends not Steve and herself flying down the stairs. They quickly both get up and run back up the stairs.
"We have a second enhanced. Female, do not engage." Steve reports to the team. Strucker smirks at Clara and Steve.
"You have to be faster, especially you Ic-" Steve sends his shield into Strucker. Clara has never seen him this angry. Strucker falls to the floor and Steve looks at her. The bright blue has disappeared from her eyes and he sighs gratefully. Clara looks away, her eyes landing on Strucker, who is still down.
"Guys, Clara and I got Strucker." Steve says. He nods at me and I nod in return.
"Yeah...I got something bigger." Tony says and Clara's ears perk up slightly.
"What is it?" She asks, but her brother doesn't respond. There is a few moments of silence before Tony responds.
"Thor, I got eyes on the prize."
-
Tony jumps as the Chitauri worm thing comes to life, roaring as it flies into the sky. The sky is dark, everything is dark and in front of him are his friends. All of them dead. Closest to him are Steve and Clara. Steve is holding onto Clara's broken body. Near them both is Steve's broken shield. Clara's eyes are wide open. Tony kneels next to Steve, absolutely terrified. His sister is staring at him as he checks Steve's pulse. Suddenly, Steve's eyes open and he grabs Tony's wrist.
"You-could've-saved-us." He says in between gasps before his hand falls limp and his head rolls towards Clara's. Blood drips out of Captain America's nose. Clara blinks and looks at her brother.
"You said you were always gonna protect me, Tones. What happened?" She asks, blood dripping out of her mouth as her head rolls to look at Steve, her body going still. Their blue eyes staring at each other for eternity. Tony looks up as he hears more of the worm things flying and he sees the portal from New York. The same portal that Clara flew through. He can see Earth-